SUPREME COURT Two Men Sent To Gaol For Breaking Into Post Office

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28210, 23 February 1957, Page 4

SUPREME COURT Two Men Sent To Gaol For Breaking Into Post Office

“Men convicted for safebreaking must be incarcerated for a long time in order to protect the community from their depredations,” said Mr Justice Adams when Roy Vincent, aged 40, a barman and baker, and Thomas Robert Allingham, aged 27, a salesman, appeared before him in the Supreme Court yesterday for sentence on a charge of breaking and entering the Sydenham Post Office on January 24 with intent to commit a crime. Vincent was sentenced to preventive detention, an indeterminate term of from three to 14 years’ imprisonment. Allingham was sentenced to six years' imprisonment. His Honour described Allingham as “a dangerous and persistent criminal.” Vincent, who was not represented by counsel, had nothing to say. Mr P. G. S. Penlington, for Allingham, said that the explanation given by the prisoner for committing the offence was that he was in debt. His was a case of a young man getting into the company of older men who were involved in crime. Allingham had been drinking over a period of years and this had become accelerated in recent months. Counsel submitted that Allingham was under the influence of an older and more experienced criminal. He asked for as much leniency as possible. 1 His Honour said that the two prisoners had been caught redhanded in an attempt to blow the safe in the Sydenham Post Office. Regarding offences of that kind, the situation had long since come to be that the sentences of the Court must be such as to deter other men from committing them, as well as ensuring that the persons found guilty of such crimes were put in a position where they could not injure the community in that way. Safebreaking was a serious crime and unhappily it had been rife in this community for some time. A main consideration in imposing sentence was what needed to be done to stop this crime. Men convicted of it must be incarcerated for a long time to protect the community from their depredations. In 1946 Vincent was sentenced to one year’s reformative detention for receiving a substantial sum of money, part of the proceeds from safebreaking in the Te Aroha Post Office, said his Honour. In 1948 he was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for attempting to blow the safe in the Lower Hutt Post Office. In 1952 he was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment for blowing a safe in business premises in Wellington and he was then warned that he was qualified to be declared an habitual criminal.

“Vincent, the present occasion is the fourth on which you have been before the Supreme Court on a.charge connected with safeblowing.” said his Honour. “You are qualified for preventive detention and there is nothing for it but to impose that sentence.” “Allingham, I have considered your letter, a letter from your mother, what has been said by your counsel, and the report by the Probation Officer,” said his Honour. “You have a considerable criminal record but it consists, to some extent, of minor offences.

“The view I take of you is that you are a dangerous and persistent criminal. Were you qualified for it I would not hesitate to impose the same sentence as that meted out to Vincent. It is perhaps unfortunate that you are not technically qualified. Whether that will be so on the next occasion I do not know, but I warn you that if there be a next occasion your record will be examined with care and if it is found that you are qualified it is likely that you will receive a sentence of preventive detention. It is the duty of the Court on the present occasion to impose a sentence likely to deter you from further crimes of this sort,” said his Honour. Carnal Knowledge Garth Francis Muirson, aged 19, a builder’s labourer, who had been found guilty of unlawfully carnal knowledge of a girl aged 14, was released on probation for two years on the special conditions that within two months he pays £75 towards the costs of the prosecution and that he abstains from the use of intoxicating liquor for the period of his probation.

Mr W. G. P. Cuningham, counsel for Muirson, said that if the prisoner’s parents had not been away on holiday the parties which led to the offence would not have been held. Muirson had been of good character and was a good worker. Counsel asked the Court to impose a penalty short of imprisonment. “Muirson, you and some of your young comrades and young girls indulged in a quite ugly piece of debauchery in your parents’ home in their absence. It was a foul thing,” said his Honour. . Fined £75 William Rex Andrews, aged 23, a truck driver (Mr C. M. Roper), who had been found guilty of failing to stop after an accident and failing to ascertain whether he had injured any person, was fined £75. The default was fixed at six months’ imprisonment, but this is to be suspended as long as Andrews pays not less than £1 a wee.:. Andrews’s driving licence was cancelled and he was disqualified from obtaining another for five years. His Honour said that Andrews had a number of convictions for breaches of the motor regulations. He was not a fit person to drive a motor-vehicle. Robbery Charge Kevin Barry Cranitch, aged 23. a labourer (Mr H. S. Thomas’, Colin Clive Worters, aged 21, a labourer (Mr P. G. S. Penlington). and George William Thomas, aged 23, a seaman (Mr B. J. Drake), who hai been found guilty on a charge of robbing Eric Anthony McAlpine, were each sentences to corrective training—a term of detention for from one to three years. Ivan Stewart Davey, aged 19, a labourer (Mr C. M. Roper), who had been found guilty on the same charge, was released on probation for two years on special conditions that within two months he makes restitution of £2O to McAlpine, pays £75 towards the costs of the prosecution, keeps a prohibition order in force for the term of his probation, and :

abstains from the use of intoxicating liquor for that time. His Honour said that Davey escaped a prison sentence “by the skin of his teeth” for he was only 19 and was the only one of the four who had no criminal record Series of Offences

Thomas Sydney Brown, aged 35, a car painter, who had been committed from the Magistrate's Court for sentence on one charge of theft, one of housebreaking, one of being a rogue and vagabond, and three of unlawfully taking bicycles, was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment. His ’ Honour said that Brown was qualified to receive a sentence of reformative detention but he would not impose it on this occasion because Brown’s long string of convictions seemed to be for comparatively trifling offences.